The challenges of Mariano García: to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and progress in the Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences
This student of the Bachelor's Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences of the Campus of Cartagena of UCAM will receive within a week the 2019 award for best athlete of the Region. Thanks to the UCAM - Spanish Olympic Committee model, he can adapt his academic training to the demanding sport schedule.<br /> <br />
After attending lessons at the Campus of UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, the athlete from Fuente Álamo, Mariano García, held a meeting with Pablo Rosique, director general for Sport of UCAM, and Juan Alfonso García, academic director of UCAM in Cartagena, to make an overview of his sports and academic progresses. Next week he will receive the 2019 award for best athlete of the Region of Murcia, given by the Autonomous Community and the Sports Press Association of the Region.
The Spanish champion of athletics in the 800 metres race explained that “one of my future goals is to obtain the Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences. When I finish my sports career, I want to have a good job. I would like to work as a physical education teacher and who knows if in the future I will also be an athletic trainer”.
Mariano García is grateful for the opportunity he had to join the model of UCAM and of the Spanish Olympic Committee to balance study and sport: “I study at the Campus of Cartagena and they grant me the flexibility that is necessary to combine my lessons schedule with trainings and there is no problem if I have any meeting outside. This suits me very well because this season in important. My objective for this Olympic year is to meet the minimum standards, from which I am 47 hundredths of a second away. If I fail in this I could access through the scoring system and fight for the best result in Tokyo 2020, which is every athlete’s dream.
For his part, Pablo Rosique reminded that the President of UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, José Luis Mendoza, “has always been sensitive to athletes so that they can balance sports and academic life. We are very excited about Mariano reaching the Olympic Games, since he only needs a few hundredths of seconds to meet the minimum standards, and there are more than thirty athletes of the university who qualified”.
Furthermore, Juan Alfonso García stressed that “in the same gala, the Faculty of Sports of UCAM will receive an award in the research + development + innovation category for its European research projects”.